The history of the Royal Gorge Bridge

By PEGGY GAIR Special to the Daily Record

Posted:
05/09/2013 09:22:56 AM MDT

Construction began June 5, 1929, on the Royal Gorge Bridge. The project needed a workforce and they got one in a hurry, men were willing to work seven days a week, 10-14 hours a day starting at 30 to 60 cents an hour. By the time the bridge was completed, about 80 men constructed this world wonder. Photos in the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park Plaza Theater and Historical Expo show men working at daredevil heights. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Koepnick Allen)

Cars lined up on the opening day of the Royal Gorge Bridge to be the first to cross the newly constructed bridge. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Koepnick Allen)

J ust as America was opening the longest toll bridge in the world, the San Francisco Bay Toll Bridge in March of 1929, the small community of Canon City and its City Council were making plans to build a toll bridge that would become the world's highest suspension bridge for over seven decades.

At that time in America, Herbert Hoover had just become the 31st president of the United States, the era of the Roaring 1920s and its "Flappers" was soon to come to an end, Popeye, the Sailor man showed up in comic strips, Wall Street crashed that October and the Great Depression was soon to descend upon the country.

Bridge workers are pictured with the carry cage that holds all strands of the wire across the Royal Gorge. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Koepnick Allen )

Even though it was not a new idea to build a bridge connecting the 1,000 foot towering walls of the Royal Gorge, money and know how was always at issue until the late 1920s when the idea gelled with the promise of stable financing by a San Antonio businessman. Lon P. Piper had a vision standing on the precipice of the mighty granite walls in 1928. After all, he had built a successful toll bridge in 1926 across the Rio Grande, connecting America and Mexico with great return on the investment, and he could do one here.

City Council minutes from March 4, 1929, reveal a resolution was adopted by the City Council pertaining to Piper's proposal to erect a suspension bridge across the Royal Gorge.

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By May 1929, the City Council, granted Lon Piper a franchise to construct a toll bridge across the Royal Gorge and The Royal Gorge Bridge and Amusement Corporation was born.

Those voting a unanimous Aye in March were Canon City forefathers listed as: C.T. Chapman, W.M. Newton, C.R. Duncan, M.O Wilson, E.R. Bancroft, Geo S. Turner, John Skoglund, and Guy James. Mayor T. Lee Witcher declared the motion carried and the resolution adopted. Mayor Witcher would be one of the first to cross the bridge in the opening day ceremony, Dec. 8, 1929. The rental agreement for the Royal Gorge Park for the year 1929 was $550.00.

The real reason for wanting to build a bridge--in middle of nowhere? This toll bridge unlike its counterpart in California would be for the sole purpose of enjoying the stunning scenic surroundings of the 9-mile granite gorge with the Arkansas River "rushing" through it, famously back dropped by the mighty Rocky Mountain Range of the Sangre D' Cristo's.

Even the name The Royal Gorge promised something spectacular. This nickname was given in 1874 according to a Canon City Daily Record newspaper article from 1899, when a photographer named Savage from Salt Lake City, in the company of J. L. Harrison of Canon City, took photos and wrote beneath them, The Royal Gorge. Another story says it was a geologist from Salt Lake City, that looked into the depths and exclaimed, "this is a royal gorge," and the name stuck. Take your pick.

Before the Bridge was built, the gorge was impressive to all who journeyed to its rim-- or through it beginning in 1879 by train. Before the name Royal Gorge stuck, it was referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas. It became a tourist attraction in earnest around the late 1890s and early 1900s. It was considered a full day round trip from Canon City, not an easy feat in that era. They traveled by foot, horses, or wagons on rough roads, and then by Model T-- cars that were said to get up to the Royal Gorge best by "backing" up most of the way due to their power trains.

Lt. Zebulon Pike, the first American explorer, in 1806 found the Royal Gorge formidable in his attempts to make his way through it and around it. He was followed by Major Stephen Long in 1820, and John C. Fremont, Lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers during the 1840's. All three men were looking for the headwaters of the Arkansas River.

Obviously, the first "real" visitors were Native Americans. The Ute Tribe was known to winter in the Canon City area. Other early visitors included Spanish Missionaries recorded in 1642, followed by fur trappers during the 1700s, Mountain Men in the 1840s and 50s, and finally settlers in the 1860s.

An impressive act of nature, the Royal Gorge walls are made of solid granite and associated rock, dating back to the Precambrian age over 1.5 billion years ago. These granite rocks are also found south of the equator. Not so long ago by geology standards, only a few million years, the Arkansas River began cutting its way down 1,200 feet forming the gorge while the Rocky Mountains were growing upward. Today, it is estimated that the Arkansas River cuts about a foot every 2,500 years.

On June 11, 1906, a congressional grant ceded the Royal Gorge to the people of Canon City, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Act, and the treasured landmark containing 5,120 acres, became property of Canon City. Thus, approval and blessing to build the Royal Gorge Bridge had to be determined by the city before 360 acres of this park could be turned over for one of the most astounding undertakings in America.

First order of business was to hire engineer George E. Cole of Houston, Texas. Cole was well known to Lon Piper as he had constructed three toll bridges for Piper and his associates in Roma, TX, Mercedes, TX, and Zapata, TX. Cole served as Chief Engineer and General Superintendent for the Royal Gorge Bridge, and later the Incline Railway built in 1931. He was joined by O.F. Copes and Fred Rice, construction superintendents, one for each side of the Bridge.

Construction began on June 5, 1929. The project needed a workforce and they got one in a hurry, men were willing to work seven days a week, 10-14 hours a day starting at 30 to 60 cents an hour. By the time the bridge was completed around 80 men constructed this world wonder.

Photos in the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park Plaza Theater and Historical Expo show men working at daredevil heights. The most amazing fact to come out of this construction project was no one was killed and there were no major accidents or injuries.

In an interview with Will Fisher, grandson of Cole, during the 75th Anniversary Celebration at the Royal Gorge Bridge, Fisher stated "one of the greatest things about Grandfather was that he cared what happened to his workers. He was first and foremost into safety for his men, which was unheard of in those days."

Special thanks to Nancy Masimer of the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center who helped research articles. Many facts and photos taken from the archives of the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park